2 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 28, 2004
NATION/WORLD
U.N. planning to play 'constructive
role' in resolving Iraqi conflict
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The United Nations
agreed yesterday to send a team to Iraq to help break
the impasse over electing a new government, as the
deaths of six more American soldiers in roadside
bombings underscored concerns about security in
the volatile nation.
A bomb that exploded south of Baghdad killed
three U.S. soldiers and wounded three others last
night, hours after another bombing west of the capital
killed three U.S. paratroopers and wounded one, the
military said. In addition, two CNN employees of died
in a shooting south of Baghdad.
Elsewhere, U.S. troops killed three suspected
members of a guerrilla cell during raids yesterday in
the central Iraqi town of Beiji, the Army said. And a
suspected car bomb was discovered near coalition
and Iraqi Governing Council offices.
The United States has cited the ongoing violence
in arguing against demands by Grand Ayatollah Ali
al-Husseini al-Sistani for the direct election of a pro-
visional legislature, which in turn would select a
government to take power by July 1.
Instead, Washington wants the lawmakers chosen in
18 regional caucuses. The Americans and the U.S.-
appointed Iraqi Governing Council asked U.N. Secre-
tary-General Kofi Annan to send a team to determine
whether an early election would be feasible.
In Paris, Annan said he believes the United
Nations can play "a constructive role" in helping to
break the impasse, and would send such a team to
Iraq "once I am satisfied that the (coalition) will pro-
vide adequate security arrangements."
Annan said the mission will solicit the views of
Iraqis to find alternative ways to choose a provision-
al government. Shiite Muslim leaders have said al-
Sistani wants to hear alternatives to the caucus plan
if the U.N. team says it's not feasible to hold elec-
tions by the end of June.
The U.N. chief also said sending in "blue helmet"
peacekeepers was not on the agenda, although he
favored a multinational force for Iraq sometime in
the future.
"I believe what we can anticipate would be a
multinational force authorized by the Security
Council, which could help and work with Iraqis to
stabilize Iraq and make it safer," Annan said.
"I believe what we can
anticipate would be a
multinational force authorized
by the Security Council which
could work and help with raqis
to stabilize Iraq:'
- Kofi Annan
Secretary-General United Nations
"This would be a multinational force, with the
support of the Security Council, and not 'blue hel-
mets' per se."
In Baghdad, coalition spokesman Dan Senor wel-
comed Annan's decision and said the United States
and its partners would protect the U.N. team.
"We believe we have got sufficient capability to
maintain a reasonable security level here in the coun-
try and we look forward to the U.N. coming down to
make that (assessment) as well," said Brig. Gen.
NEWS IN BRIEF.{,M-
At least three more killed in Baghdad
A car bomb exploded in front of a hotel in central Baghdad today, destroying
the facade of the three-story building and setting cars on fire. Several casualties
were feared, police said.
"We know there was some sort of explosion and troops are heading that way,"
said U.S. military spokesman Capt. Dave Malakoff.
A part of the al-Shaheen hotel's concrete front was torn away by the blast, and
the walls that remained were blackened. Several fire trucks tried to douse the fire
in the building.
A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the devastation was
caused by a car bomb. It was not clear if the car was parked or moving when it
exploded.
He said the hotel was packed with guests at the time of the blast, and expects
several casualties.
The hotel is close to the former U.S. Embassy and a police station.
The blast occurred a day after two roadside bombs exploded west and south
of Baghdad, killing six U.S. troops and two Iraqis. Also Tuesday, two CNN
employees were shot and killed by unidentified assailants on a highway, just
outside Baghdad when they were driving back from an assignment.
WASHINGTON
Panel: Hijacking risk downplayed before 9-11
The Federal Aviation Administration focused on the danger of explosives
aboard planes rather than a suicide hijacking before the Sept. 11 attacks even
though its own security officers warned terrorists might try to crash an airliner, a
federal panel said yesterday.
The FAA's Office of Civil Aviation Security considered the risk of a suicide
hijacking at least as early as March 1998, says the preliminary report by the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
The commission report acknowledges there was no specific intelligence indi-
cating suicide hijackings would occur but says the FAA still had a responsibility to
protect the flying public against such a threat.
The commission wrapped up two days of hearings on aviation and border security
lapses. The panel, which has been investigating the Sept. 11 attacks for a year and
has held seven public hearings, wants Congress to extend its May 27 deadline by at
least two months, saying it needs more time to review all the material. At yester-
day's hearing, the commission provided documents showing the FAA was aware of
the possibility of suicide hijackings but did not pass the information to airlines.
Bush reaffirms Iraq
posed threat to U.S.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said yesterday that Iraq undoubtedly
posed a threat to America last year and the U.S.-led invasion was justified,
despite his outgoing arms inspector's conclusion that Saddam Hussein had no
weapons of mass destruction.
But Bush and his aides backed away from oft-stated predictions that such
weapons will eventually be found in Iraq. And the president deflected questions
about the discrepancies between his dire warnings on Iraq and Kay's findings.
"There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a grave and gather-
ing threat to America and the world," Bush said. "And I say that based upon
intelligence that I saw prior to the decision to go into Iraq and I say that based
upon what I know today. And the world is better off without him."
Kay believes his team's failure to find banned weapons in Iraq points to prob-
lems in the intelligence suggesting they were there, and he said over the weekend
that the CIA owes Bush an explanation.
Bush, during a meeting with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, said
he had "great confidence in our intelligence community," and he displayed no
interest in such an accounting from the CIA.
The president said he wanted to let American weapons inspectors complete
their search in Iraq before drawing conclusions. That work is 85 percent com-
plete, Kay has said.
Last year, the president made Iraq's alleged weapons cache a central rationale
for the Iraq invasion.
On Jan. 22, 2003, Bush told an audience in St. Louis, "The dictator of Iraq has
got weapons of mass destruction." On the eve of the war in March, he said,
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the
Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons
ever devised."
Sunday, after nine months of searching, Kay said, "I don't think they exist."
Kay quit his post on Friday.
Bush cited other reasons yesterday behind his decision to go to war, and he
tried to direct Americans' attention to the future of Iraq, not his own past
assertions.
"America is more secure, the world is safer, and the people of Iraq are free,"
Bush said.
"We're now at the business of making sure Iraq is free and democratic," Bush
said. "That's important, as well, for long-term stability and peace in the world,
and we're making good progress toward that goal."
Bush made no mention of twin roadside bombings west of Baghdad that killed
AP FPHOT
Bush answers questions on evidence of weapons of mass destruction
and states he has "great confidence" in the intelligence community
yesterday in the Oval Office of the White House.
three American soldiers yesterday.
The Polish leader offered his own defense of Bush, saying many experts
believed before the war that Iraq had built banned weapons. Kwasniewski said a
top U.N. weapons inspector had told him several months before the invasion that
"Saddam has these weapons or is ready to produce these weapons."
Senate minority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) demanded a new investigation
by an independent commission, or a broadened probe by the Senate Intelligence
Committee, into the "administration's role in the intelligence failures leading up
to the war with Iraq." The Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee
is currently looking into what the CIA knew before the war, but the scope does-
n't include the Bush administration's role. Bush ignored a reporter's question
about whether he would support or resist a new probe.
Daschle's request for a new inquiry led to a testy exchange in the Cabinet
Room yesterday afternoon. Bush met with congressional leaders of both parties,
and Daschle told him it was important to get to the bottom of whether intelli-
gence was misused.
KABUL, Afghanistan
Taliban attack kills
two more people
A suicide bomber killed a Canadian
soldier and an Afghan civilian yesterday
in an attack on a convoy of the NATO-led
security force patrolling Kabul. The Tal-
iban claimed responsibility.
The soldier was the first foreign vic-
tim of a fresh wave of violence that has
claimed more than 60 lives this month.
The attack came a day after
Afghanistan's president signed the
country's first post-Taliban constitution
into law.
Three other Canadian troops and
eight civilians, including a Frenchman,
were wounded in the attack on a three-
jeep convoy on a main road in the west
of the city.
Lt. Col. Don Denne, a Canadian
commander of the security force, said
the attacker blew himself up as a jeep
slowed down to negotiate a rut in the
road, peppering the soldiers and
bystanders with shrapnel.
BEIJING
China becomes 10th
nation with bird flu
Bird flu reached China, the world's
most populous nation, as officials
acknowledged yesterday that at least
one duck was infected with the disease
, 1Ca
and opened an investigation into sus-
pect cases of other dead poultry.
The announcement opened a poten-
tially fearsome new front in the fight
against the virus that now has appeared
in 10 Asian nations.
In Atlanta, the head of the US. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention urged
American doctors to test patients with
flu-like symptoms if they had recently
been to areas with bird flu outbreaks.
China's announcement also led to unease
about the food supply for Chinese still
shaken by last year's SARS outbreak.
NEW YORK
Prosecutors: Stewart
received insider tips
Martha Stewart sold stock based on "a
secret tip" that no one else had, then told
an avalanche of lies to save her reputa-
tion and enormous fortune, prosecutors
said yesterday as they laid out their case
against the homemaking queen.
Stewart's attorney insisted the case
was based on "speculation, surmise and
guesswork" and suggested the govern-
ment's pursuit of the domestic style-setter
was reminiscent of George Orwell's Big
Brother novel "1984." The jury listened
to three hours of opening statements out-
lining different portrayals of Stewart's
sale of nearly 4,000 shares of biotechnol-
ogy company lImClone Systems.
- Compiled from Daily wire reports
.
1 i I
Former prisoner of war accuses Israelis of
rape, sodomy; gov't denies all his charges
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - A Lebanese guerrilla
leader about to be freed in a prisoner swap testified
yesterday that Israeli interrogators raped him,
sodomized him with a club and kept him naked for
weeks in a round-the-clock effort to extract informa-
tion on a missing Israeli aviator.
State prosecutor Shamai Becker said interroga-
tors never touched Mustafa Dirani. The prosecutor
said Dirani "sang like a bird" and made up allega-
tions of abuse to explain why he gave Israel infor-
mation.
Human rights groups have accused Israel of
routinely mistreating Arab prisoners, but rarely to
the extremes Dirani alleged to a Tel Aviv court in
his $1.3 million lawsuit against the Israeli govern-
ment.
Dirani is one of hundreds of Arab prisoners to be
released tomorrow in exchange for an Israeli busi-
nessman and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers -
all kidnapped by the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah in October 2000.
The prisoners to be freed by Israel include 400
Palestinians, 34 people from Arab countries and a
German convicted of spying for Hezbollah. The
Israeli Justice Ministry said a Moroccan inmate
on the list was released a few days ago.
Yesterday, a white bus filled with prisoners drove
into the Sharon Prison in central Israel under heavy
guard. Prisoners peeked from tiny wire mesh-cov-
ered windows, and some tried unsuccessfully to
spread their fingers in V-for-victory signs through
the tightly wrought metal.
The German-mediated swap is to take place
tomorrow. Security officials said the prisoners from
Arab countries and the German would be flown
today to Germany. Israel will release the Palestinians
into the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and will hand
over 59 bodies of Lebanese militants killed in clash-
es with Israeli troops.
All the Palestinians had less than three years to
serve and were not involved in wounding or
killing Israelis, according to a list released yester-
day. About two-thirds were scheduled to be
released this year.
Some Palestinians greeted the list with disappoint-
ment, noting Israel has often freed prisoners convict-
ed of nonviolent offenses on Muslim holidays or as
part of peace talks.
"I look at this like a routine release," said Issa
Karake, head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Asso-
ciation.
Dirani is among the most prominent of the pris-
oners named. Israeli forces burst into his home in
Lebanon in 1994, kidnapped him and held him
without charges for a decade, yet allowed him
access to its court system to sue the government
for torture.
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NEWS Shabina S. Khatri, Managing Editor
763.2459, news@mlchlgandaily com
EDITORS: C. Price Jones, Kylene Kiang, Jennifer Misthal, Jordan Schrader
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MoGarvey, Naila Moreira, Jameel Naqvi, Lindsey Paterson, Mona Rafeeq, Karen Schwartz, Siabhon Sturdivant, Trista Vakn Tine, Ryan Vicko
OPINION Aubrey Henretty,Zac Peskowitz, Editors
763.0379, opinonemlchlgandaly.com
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CARTOONISTS: Sam Butler, Colin Daly
COLUMNISTS: Steve Cotner, Joel Hoard, An Paul, Hussain Rahim
SPORTS J. Brady McCoiiough, Managing Editor
764.8585, sports@mIchlgandally.com
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Ellen McGarrity, Michael Nisson, Jake Rosenwasser, Steven Shears, Matt Singer, Ryan Sosin, Anne Uible, Matt Venegoni
r
I
I.
HPSA* Presents...
University of Michigan Health Poticy Student Association)
The Medicare Prescription Drug
Improvement and Modernization
Act of 2003:
Policy implications of the new
drug prescription benefit law
Datn : January 28, 2004
7:00 with reception following the discussion
Michigan Room, 2nd Floor, Michigan League
911 North University
ARTS Todd Weiser, Managing Editor
763.0379, artspage@michigandally.com
EDITORS: Jason Roberts, Scott SerilIla
WEEKEND MAGAZINE EDITORS: Charles Paradis, Rebecca Ramsey
SUB-EDITORS: Katie Marie Gates, Joel Hoard, Ryan Lewis, Sarah Peterson, Melissa Runstrom
STAFF: Jennie Adler, Aliya Chowdhri, Sean Dailey, Laurence Freedman, Andrew M. Gaerig, Matthew Grinshpun, Brandon Harig, Lynn Hasselbarth,
Mary Hillemeier, Andrew Horowitz, Lia Izenberg, Megan Jacobs, Alexandra Jones, Michelle Kijek, Zach Mabee, Vanessa Miller, Jared Newman,
James Pfent, Christopher Pitoun, Adam Rottenberg, Niamh Stevin, Jaya Soni, Anthea Stolz, Justin Weiner, Douglas Wernert, Alex Wolsky
r
1
"UNDER THE SKIN OF THE CITY"
(Zir-e Pousr-e Shahr)
Middle East Film Series - Part One
PHOTO Tony Ding, Brett Mountain, Managing Edito
764.0563, photo@michigandallycom
ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Elise Bergman, Seth Lower
NIGHT EDITORS: Jason Cooper, Ryan Weiner
STAFF: Trevor Campbell, Forest Casey, Joel Friedman, Jeff Lehnert, Kelly Lin, Danny Moloshok, Brendan O'Donnell, Shubra Ohri, Laura
Shlecter, Jonathon Triest, David Tuman
ONLINE Geoffrey Fink, Managing Edit
763.2459, onlineo@mlchlgandally.com
EDITOR: Ashley Jardina
STAFF: John Becic, Kate Green, Janna Hutz, Mira Levitan
rs
or
Thursday, January 29, 7:30 PM, Rackham Amphitheatre
Open to the Public - Free Admission
The first US release of a film by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, Iran's "First Lady
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